Over four in 10 under-35s have never left home
By:thinkSPAIN , Wednesday, July 11, 2012

NEARLY half of all under-35s in Spain live with their parents because they cannot afford to buy or rent a place of their own, reveals research by La Caixa bank's social and charitable arm.

Of all those interviewed, 44 per cent were unemployed, and two-thirds of those who did have jobs were only on temporary contracts of three or six months, which immediately disqualifies them from renting a home or applying for a mortgage.

Out of those who have jobs, one in five Spaniards aged between 30 and 35 had never left home as they could not afford it, and 44 per cent of those aged 25 to 30 .

This long delay in making a life for themselves means an even longer delay is seen in settling down in a serious relationship and having children.

Antonio López, dean of social sciences at Spain's distance-learning university network, UNED, says young adults' lives have ground to a halt and no public body had offered support or answers.

Only one per cent of under-35s attempted to seek help from authorities to allow them to leave home, and the overall rating out of 10 given to politicians and public institutions in terms of their efforts at solving this major demographic problem was 2.8.

Spain is one of the EU member States that offers the least social welfare assistance to young people – 2.9 per cent compared to Denmark and UK's 6.5 and 6.6 per cent respectively.

The risk of social exclusion and poverty among the under-35s in Spain rocketed to 30.6 per cent in 2010 from 23.6 per cent in 2008.

López says the State's attitude to the situation was to wash their hands of it and 'let the family deal with it'.